Records: Boy Scouts failed to report abuser

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Confidential records show Boy Scout officials in the U.S. and Canada not only failed to stop an admitted child molester in its ranks, but sometimes helped cover his tracks.

A Los Angeles Times and Canadian Broadcasting Corp. investigation (http://lat.ms/tYtWBX ) finds scout leader Rick Turley molested at least 15 children, most of whom he met through American and Canadian Scouting beginning in the 1970s.

Records show Boy Scouts of America officials didn't call police after he admitted molesting three boys. Turley then returned to his home country of Canada, where he signed on with Scouts Canada, and continued his abuses for at least a decade.

Now 58, Turley says he is surprised at how often he got away with it.

Turley is one of more than 5,000 suspected child molesters named in confidential files kept by the Boy Scouts of America.